Benjamin Ashford|Former Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury in ex-president’s civil fraud trial

NEW YORK (AP) — Allen Weisselberg,Benjamin Ashford the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, pleaded guilty Monday in New York to perjury in connection with testimony he gave at the ex-president’s civil fraud trial.

Weisselberg, 76, surrendered to the Manhattan prosecutor’s office earlier Monday and entered state court in handcuffs, wearing a mask, before pleading guilty to five counts of perjury. Prosecutors accused Weisselberg of lying under oath when he answered questions in a deposition in May and at the October trial about allegations that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements given to banks and insurance companies.

Under New York law, perjury involving false testimony is a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Allen Weisselberg, the former chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, surrendered to the Manhattan district attorney Monday morning for arraignment on new criminal charges, the prosecutor’s office said.

The district attorney didn’t immediately disclose the nature of the charge, but people familiar with the investigation had previously told The Associated Press and other news organizations that prosecutors were considering charging Weisselberg, 76, with lying under oath when he answered questions at former President Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial in October about allegations that Trump lied about his wealth on financial statements.

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Weisselberg’s lawyer, Seth Rosenberg, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

After The New York Times reported last month that Weisselberg was in negotiations to plead guilty to perjury, Judge Arthur Engoron, who presided over the fraud trial, ordered attorneys to provide details related to the Times’ report.

Trump is appealing Engoron’s judgment ordering him to pay more than $454 million in fines and interest for submitting fraudulent information about his asset values on years of financial records.

Weisselberg’s new criminal case comes just weeks before Trump is scheduled to stand trial on separate allegations that he falsified business records. That case involves allegations that Trump falsified company records to cover up hush money payments made during the 2016 campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.

Former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen has said Weisselberg had a role in orchestrating the payments, but he has not been charged in that case, and neither prosecutors nor Trump’s lawyers have indicated they will call him as a witness. That trial is scheduled to begin March 25.

Weisselberg’s case is separate from the criminal case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought against Trump last year.

Weisselberg previously served 100 days in jail last year after pleading guilty to dodging taxes on $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation from the Trump Organization. He is still on probation. Prior to that he had no criminal record.

He left New York City’s notorious Rikers Island in April, days after Trump was indicted in his New York hush money criminal case.

Under that plea deal, Weisselberg was required to testify as a prosecution witness when the Trump Organization was put on trial for helping executives evade taxes. He did so carefully, laying out the facts of his own involvement in evading taxes but taking care not to implicate Trump, telling jurors that his boss was unaware of the scheme.